French Release 'Neo-Nazi' Musician Linked to Norway Mass Murderer

A Norwegian musician and convicted murderer with ties to mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was released Thursday — two days after his arrest in central France on suspicion he was "preparing a major terrorist act."

Kristian "Varg" Vikernes and his wife Marie Cachet were arrested Tuesday after she bought four rifles. Although Cachet, a French national, had a legal firearms permit, French security officials were worried that Vikernes might commit a terrorist act, a French prosecutor said earlier this week.

The French Interior Ministry had said that Vikernes — described by French officials as a neo-Nazi — constituted a "potential threat to society."

But officials said later that questioning of Vikernes did not being to light any evidence of a terrorist plot, the BBC reported.

Cachet was released from custody Wednesday night.

Officials said that while no terrorism charges have been filed, Vikernes will still have to answer charges of incitement to racial hatred over the content of some of his Internet writings.

Vikernes has been promoting what he refers to as "Odalism," an ideology based on the idea that white Europeans should adopt "native European values."

He spent 16 years in prison for stabbing a friend to death in Oslo in 1993.

In the past, Vikernes had received a copy of a manifesto from Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway on July 22, 2011. Breivik planted a bomb in central Oslo and went on a shooting spree on a nearby island. He is serving a 21-year prison sentence for the crime — the maximum allowed under Norwegian law.

A Norwegian musician and convicted murderer with ties to mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was released Thursday - two days after his arrest in central France on suspicion he was preparing a major terrorist act.